Abortion Statistics for Michigan
- Michigan residents received 95.7 percent of the induced abortions that occurred in Michigan in 2018. This proportion is similar to that which was observed in previous years.
- In 2018, about half of the resident women receiving abortions had no previous induced abortions. In general, from 1985 through 2018, a gradual increase has been observed with the proportion of women reporting two or more induced abortions, going from 14.6 percent in 1985 to 23.3 percent in 2018. The proportion of women who had no previous induced abortion has generally declined, falling from 59.5 percent in 1985 to 50.9 percent in 2018.
- In 2018, 87.4 percent of the Michigan women who obtained an induced abortion were not married, a 5 percent increase from the 82.4 percent reported in 1985.
- About 65 percent of the resident women obtaining induced abortions in 2018 had a previous term pregnancy. Of the women who had a previous term pregnancy, over 38 percent in 2018 had at least two or more term pregnancies.
- The majority of Michigan residents receiving induced abortions (37.5 percent) were under 25 years of age, while 8.7 percent were less than 20 years old. These are much smaller proportions than the 64.6 and 30.6 percent observed, respectively, in 1985.
- For statistics on abortion in Michigan by county, click here.
- For further statistics on abortion in Michigan, click here.
Abortion Myths
- Abortion advocates often use a coat hanger to symbolize the “age of back-alley abortions” where women were forced to seek abortions from “unqualified butchers.” The number of women who died from illegal “back-alley” abortions was often said to be in the thousands. However, according to the U.S. Bureau of Vital Statistics, there were only 39 women who died from illegal abortions in 1972.
- To describe illegal abortion providers as unqualified is hardly accurate. Former medical director of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Mary Calderone, described in a 1960 American Journal of Health article that a study in 1958 showed that 84% to 87% of all illegal abortions were performed by licensed physicians in good standing. Dr. Calderone concluded that “90% of all illegal abortions are presently done by physicians.” So it seems that the “back-alley butchers” of January 21, 1973, became “caring doctors who believe in a woman’s right to choose” on January 22, 1973.
- In 1978, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology stated the legalization of abortion “has had no major impact on the number of women dying from abortion” since the results of a study they completed showed that over 90% of all illegal abortions were performed by licensed physicians.
- Abortion advocates will also claim that a million American women each year were undergoing illegal abortions before Roe v. Wade. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control show that these statements are highly misleading. The CDC reports that after abortion was legalized in January of 1973, there were 615,831 legal abortions. In 1976 when there were 988,267 abortions. There weren’t over a million legal abortions a year in the United States until the end of 1977, five years after abortion was made legal in all states.
- Abortion was legal in a handful of states (New York, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, New Jersey, Vermont, and California) before Roe v. Wade and the CDC reports that there were 586,760 legal abortions in 1972.